PAM, 

APS/CA 

C_o~vv 


CjL^  {  A.  cSi 


National  Association  of 
of  the  United  States 


Manufacturers 
of  America 


30  Church  Street,  New  York 


Special 

Foreign  Trade 
Bulletin 


Issued  by  the 

Foreign  Trade  Department 

of  the 

National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


No.  25  January,  1919 


THE  BELGIAN  CONGO 

WITH  MAP 

CONTENTS 


Development  Continued  During  the  War . ' .  2 

Trade  Open  to  All .  3 

The  Natives  and  Their  Character .  3 

Influence  of  the  Arab  Slave-Traders .  4 

Administration  and  Law  Courts .  .  .  5 

A— Trade  and  Natural  Products . . .  5 

Imports  and  Exports  in  the  Congo  (Special  Trade) .  6 

Some  of  the  Goods  Imported  Into  the  Congo  in  1914 . 

Products  Exported .  7 

Principal  Corporations  Operating  in  the  Belgian  Congo .  10 

Trade  Languages  in  the  Congo .  12 

Articles  and  Methods  of  Trade .  12 

Trade  Caravans .  14 

Currency,  Weights  and  Measures  . 14 

Personal  Taxes  to  be  Paid  by  Traders .  15 

B— Travel  and  Transportation .  .15 

Map .  16-17 

Projected  Railways  and  Steamer  Lines .  19 

Fast  Passenger  Traffic  Towards  Stanleyville .  20 

Remarkable  River  System .  20 

C — Agriculture  and  Forestry .  21 

Native  Agriculture .  22 

White  Settlers  and  Planters  — Land  Concessions .  24 

Eperimental  Settlement  of  Belgian  Small  Farmers  in  Katanga. ...  24 

Government  Experimental  Plantations . 25 

Coffee  Plantations .  25 

Rubber  Plantations .  25 

Cacao  Plantations .  26 

Oil  Palm  Forests  and  Plantations .  26 

Lumber  Supply  Enormous .  27 

D— Great  Mineral  Wealth . 27 

The  Katanga  Tin  Belt . 29 

Future  Development  of  the  Katanga  Mines .  30 

The  Diamond  Mines  in  the  Congo .  30 

The  Goldfields  of  the  Northeastern  Congo .  31 

Coal  and  Oil  in  the  Belgian  Congo .  31 

Iron  Ore  Deposits  in  the  Congo .  32 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


THE  BELGIAN  CONGO 


A  NEW  FIELD  FOR  AMERICAN  ENTERPRISE 


Stanley’s  Darkest  Africa  of  Cannibalism  and 
Conflict  Now  a  Peaceful  Region  for  Agri¬ 
culturist  and  Trader  Traversed  by  Rail, 
Steam  and  Motor  Car 

By  Edward  V.  Leplae 

No  colony  in  Africa  has  a  greater  economic  future  than 
the  Belgian  Congo,  because  none  combines,  as  the  Congo 
does,  thousands  of  miles  of  deep  and  easily  navigable 
rivers,  with  an  excellent  climate,  unlimited  agricultural 
possibilities,  enormous  hardwood  forests,  and  a  consider¬ 
able  wealth  of  the  most  valuable  ores,  metals  and  precious 
stones. 

These  assets  are  specially  valuable  on  account  of  the 
fact  that  the  situation  of  the  Belgian  Congo  is  unique  from 
a  commercial  and  industrial  point  of  view.  This  colony, 
with  her  unequalled  waterways  and  great  agricultural  and 
mineral  wealth,  covers  the  very  heart  of  the  former  “Dark 
Continent,”  and,  consequently,  must  be  the  crossroads  where 
all  the  principal  trans-African  highways,  the  steamer  and 
railway  lines  either  already  meet  or  will  meet  in  the 
future. 

Since  the  Belgians  took  over  the  Congo  in  1909,  they 
have  been  working  strenuously  to  push  their  colony  for¬ 
ward  with  all  speed. 

Development  Continued  During  the  War 

The  Colonial  Minister,  Mr.  J.  J.  Renkin,  with  unshakable 
faith  in  the  final  victory  of  the  Allies,  ordered  that  all  the 
work  initiated  in  the  Congo  should  go  on,  notwithstanding 
the  war.  Even  railway  building  was  continued,  in  order 
to  link  the  Congo  River  and  Lake  Tanganyka  with  the 
South  African  railways.  The  Congo  officials,  who  all 
wanted  to  fight  the  Germans  in  Europe,  were  sent  back  to 
the  Colony. 

Great  schemes  are  afoot  now  for  new  development,  both 
moral  and  material.  Belgium  wants  to  leave  no  stone  un¬ 
turned  that  can  afford  help  towards  the  welfare  of  the 
native  population  and  the  advance  of  agriculture,  mining 
and  trade. 

Through  the  establishment  of  steamer  and  railway  lines, 
and  of  a  very  complete  legislative  and  administrative  sys¬ 
tem,  the  heart  of  Africa  has  been  transformed  by  the  Bel¬ 
gians  from  a  wild  and  dangerous  country,  inhabited  by 
millions  of  cannibal  and  warlike  natives,  into  a  prosperous 
and  quiet  colony,  where  trading,  farming  and  mining  are 


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Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


unhampered.  This  colony  is  now  endowed  with  European 
laws  and  administration,  telephone,  telegraph  and  fourteen 
wireless  stations,  comfortable  railways  and  steamers, 
well  equipped  towns  and  more  than  a  thousand  trading 
houses.  Travelers  can  reside  and  trade  in  the  Congo  with¬ 
out  any  personal  danger  or  hardships. 

Natives  are  happy  and  well  cared  for  and  native  rights 
are  carefully  protected  against  any  encroachment. 

Trade  Open  to  All 

The  Belgian  Congo  is  open  to  traders  and  planters  of 
all  nations  of  the  world,  in  accordance  with  the  interna- 
tibnal  agreement  from  which  the  Colony  derives  its  exist¬ 
ence. 

No  preference  whatever  is  given  or  can  be  given  to  any 
particular  nation  in  respect  of  trading,  buying,  importing 
into  or  exporting  goods  from  the  Congo. 

Thirty  years  ago,  owing  to  lack  of  transport  and  med¬ 
ical  help,  to  the  cannibalism  of  most  of  the  native  tribes, 
to  a  long  and  bloody  war  against  the  Arab  slave-traders, 
and  also  to  the  usual  carelessness  of  the  pioneers,  the 
Congo  acquired  a  bad  reputation  for  unhealthiness  and 
danger. 

That  was  quite  undeserved.  Since  the  country  has  been 
equipped  with  rail,  steamer  and  motor-car,  comfortable 
buildings  and  hotels,  thoroughly  pacified  and  kept  in  quiet¬ 
ness  and  order,  the  conditions  of  travel  and  residence  have 
become  excellent  and  compare  favorably  with  those  of  any 
other  equatorial  country  in  Africa. 

The  climate  is  one  of  the  mildest  in  the  tropical  world, 
as  the  whole  colony  is  situated  on  a  high  tableland,  sloping 
towards  the  west,  and  its  lowest  parts  are  more  than  a 
thousand  feet  above  sea-level.  This  high  altitude  of  the 
Belgian  Congo  produces  a  climate  much  cooler  than  the 
climate  of  tropical  Asia  and  Malaya  and  much  healthier 
than  that  of  the  west  coast  of  Africa. 

The  highest  parts,  such  as  Katanga,  at  an  altitude  of 
about  4,500  feet,  have  a  very  temperate  climate,  with  six 
months  of  dry  season,  at  which  time  cold  weather,  and 
even  frost,  is  experienced  in  the  valleys. 

Very  high  mountains  rise  on  the  eastern  border  of  the 
Belgian  Congo,  between  Lake  Tanganyka  and  Lake  Albert. 
Mt.  Ruwenzori  and  the  grand  volcanoes  near  Lake  Kivu 
are  from  15,000  to  19,000  feet  high,  and  capped  with  snow 
and  glaciers. 

The  Natives  and  Their  Character 

The  natives  are  gentle  and  intelligent,  and  generally 
good  farmers.  Their  cannibalism  was  a  result  of  the  nat¬ 
ural  craving  for  meat  and  is  now  gone  entirely. 

When  Stanley  traveled  through  the  Congo  he  found 
large  numbers  of  native  villages  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers. 
The  population  of  the  colony  was  therefore  estimated  at 


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National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


about  30,000,000,  a  figure  that  is  at  least  double  that  of  the 
real  population.  In  fact,  the  interior  is  very  sparsely  pop¬ 
ulated.  It  is  even  doubtful  if  the  Congo  contains  as  many 
as  the  10,000,000  to  15,000,000  people  commonly  estimated 
by  modern  writers. 

It  has  been  impossible  as  yet  to  make  a  complete  census 
of  the  native  population,  many  negroes  living  in  small 
villages  scattered  through  the  dense  equatorial  forests. 
An  attempt  at  a  census  was  made  in  1915  and  1916  in  the 
most  accessible  villages  of  each  district,  and  this  gave  a 
total  number  of  5,146,150  natives,  of  whom  1,709,006  were 
men,  1,838,150  women,  and  1,598,994  children. 

Most  of  the  Congo  natives  belong  to  the  Bantu  tribes. 
Some  are  dwarfs  or  pigmies  (height  about  4  ft.)  ;  some 
are  giants  (height  about  7  ft.).  The  color  of  the  skin 
varies  from  a  light  brown  to  a  dark  grey  or  black.  The 
natives  are  generally  well  built,  strong  and  healthy,  good 
farmers,  expert  fishermen  and  hunters.  Their  usual  food 
is  composed  of  manioc  (cassava),  bananas,  sorghum,  corn, 
sweet  potatoes,  peanuts  and  beans ;  fish  and  game.  These 
natives  are  now  peaceful  and  law-abiding. 

Influence  of  the  Arab  SIave=Traders 

Arab  slave-traders  from  Zanzibar  and  the  East  Coast 
invaded  Central  Africa  and  the  Congo  about  1850-1860. 
They  were  in  quest  of  ivory,  a  very  valuable  product 
fetching  high  prices  in  India  and  Europe.  The  Arabs 
started  with  buying  or  exchanging  ivory  against  manufac¬ 
tured  goods,  but  ascertaining  that  the  native  populations 
were  helpless,  they  very  soon  adopted  a  more  profitable 
system.  Followed  by  small  armies  of  native  retainers 
armed  with  guns,  they  attacked  the  villages  during  the 
night,  murdered  the  aged  people  and  the  men  who  tried 
to  resist,  carried  off  the  women  and  children,  took  the 
able-bodied  men  as  slaves,  made  them  carry  the  ivory  to 
the  East  Coast,  and  sold  them  to  land  owners  in  Africa 
and  Asia.  On  this  trip  of  hundreds  of  miles  a  large  per¬ 
centage  of  the  slaves  died  from  hunger,  thirst  or  bad 
treatment.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  Congo  natives  were 
enslaved  or  killed  by  the  Arabs  between  1860  and  1891, 
when  the  Belgians  .made  war  against  the  slave-traders  and, 
after  nine  years  of  intermittent  but  fierce  fighting,  finally 
destroyed  the  power  of  the  great  Arab  chiefs.  The  Bel¬ 
gians  had  to  fight  also  against  the  Dervishes  of  the  Egypt¬ 
ian  Soudan,  who  used  to  buy  slaves  and  ivory  in  the  north¬ 
eastern  districts  of  the  Congo. 

The  Arabs  introduced  several  species  of  food  plants, 
rice,  cotton,  mangoes,  date-palms  and  other  tropical  fruit. 
Arab-like  populations,  following  the  Moslem  creed,  are 
still  found  in  large  numbers  on  the  middle  Congo  River, 
from  Isangi  and  Stanleyville  to  Nyangwe  and  Kassongo. 
These  two  towns  were  very  important  during  the  Arab 


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Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


rule,  and  are  said  to  have  numbered  30,000  inhabitants. 
The  principal  Arab  towns  of  to-day  are  Kisanagani 
(Stanleyville),  8,000,  and  Kirundu,  4,000  inhabitants. 

A  very  large  number  of  Belgian  and  other  missionaries 
are  at  work  in  the  Congo ;  missionaries  of  any  denomina¬ 
tion  enjoy  perfect  freedom  of  action,  and  special  protec¬ 
tion  by  the  Government.  There  are  several  important 
American  missions.  The  Bantu  negroes  were  all  pagans 
and  fetichists.  Many  are  now  Christians,  mostly  Catho¬ 
lics,  and  a  few  in  Central  Congo  are  Moslems.  The  Cath¬ 
olic  and  Protestant  missionaries  have  hundreds  of  elemen¬ 
tary  schools,  teaching  religion,  writing  and  reading,  also 
carpentry,  printing,  etc. 

Administration  and  Law  Courts 

The  Colonial  Minister  in  Brussels  is  a  member  of  the 
Belgian  Government  and  is  the  head  of  the  Colonial  Ad¬ 
ministration.  He  has  the  advice  of  a  Colonial  Council. 
The  laws  for  the  Colony  are  voted  by  the  Belgian  Par¬ 
liament  ;  the  executive  power  is  vested  in  the  King.  The 
administrative  and  executive  head  in  the  Colony  is  the 
Governor  General.  The  Colony  is  divided  into  four  Prov¬ 
inces  and  22  Districts.  At  the  head  of  each  province  is  a 
Vice-Governor.  The  head  of  a  district  is  the  District 
Commissioner;  he  is  assisted  by  Territorial  Administra¬ 
tors  and  Agents.  Each  district  is  subdivided  into  a  certain 
number  of  territories. 

The  head  of  the  Judicial  Body  is  the  Colonial  Minister 
in  Brussels,  represented  in  the  Colony  by  the  Attorney 
Generals  in  Boma  and  Elisabethville. 

Law-courts  are  found  in  the  principal  towns.  Special 
Judges  travel  continually  through  the  country.  Minor  of¬ 
fenses  by  natives  are  punished  by  the  Territorial  Admin¬ 
istrator.  There  are  Courts  of  Appeal  in  Boma  and  Elisa¬ 
bethville. 

A 

TRADE  AND  NATURAL  PRODUCTS 

The  outbreak  in  1914  of  the  European  war  produced 
only  a  short  crisis  in  the  Congo  trade.  Sea  and  river 
transport  was  resumed  rapidly.  Large  quantities  of  food¬ 
stuffs  and  other  supplies  were  needed  for  the  campaign  in 
German  East  Africa,  and  enabled  the  trading  concerns  to 
make  some  important  transactions.  Prices  of  colonial  pro¬ 
duce  in  the  English  and  French  market  have  been  un¬ 
usually  high.  However,  the  shortage  of  ocean  steamers 
was  severely  felt  in  1917  and  1918. 

The  notes  issued  by  the  State-guaranteed  Banque  du 
Congo  Beige  were  made  legal  tender,  and  smaller  notes  of 
one  and  five  francs  (twenty  cents  and  one  dollar)  were 
issued,  in  order  to  avoid  a  shortage  of  small  currency. 
Export  of  gold  and  silver  coin  was  prohibited.  The  rate 


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National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


of  the  English  pound  paid  in  London  has  been  maintained 
at  Fr.  25.50  paid  in  the  Congo. 

Owing  to  these  favorable  conditions,  imports  and  ex¬ 
ports  increased  rapidly,  as  shown  by  the  following  figures, 
giving  the  special  trade  of  the  Congo  colony:1 

Imports  and  Exports  in  the  Congo 

(Special  Trade.) 

A. — Under  the  Congo  Free  State  Government. 


Imports  Exports. 

1895  .  $  2,137,169  $  2,188,601 

1900  . t .  4,944,825  9,475,580 

1905  .  4,015,072  10,606,452 

B. — Under  the  Belgian  Government. 

Imports  Exports. 

1910  .  $  7,369,301  $13,320,459 

1912  .  10,846,575  11,985,239 

1913  .  14,318,156  11,037,475 

1914  .  8,898,423  10,574,951 

1915  .  4,690,648  14,398,962 

1916  .  13,512,200  25,840,600 


The  goods  imported  into  the  Congo  can  be  classified 
under  three  heads : 

1.  Native  Trade;  2.  Equipment;  3.  Common  Trade. 

The  following  figures  give  an  insight  into  the  nature  of 
the  goods  commonly  imported  into  the  Congo.  Details  of 
these  and  other  imports  are  published  by  the  Belgian  Gov¬ 
ernment  in  annual  and  periodical  official  papers : 


Some  of  the  Goods  Imported  Into  the  Congo  in  1914 

I.  — Native  Trade:  Approximate  Value  in  Dollars. 

Cotton  Textures  .  $821,000 

Hardware  .  303,800 

Flintlock  Guns  .  5,500 

Common  Black  Powder  .  29,500 

II.  — Machinery  and  Equipment : 

Steamers,  Engines,  etc .  231,100 

Railway  Equipment  .  612,400 

Building  Material  .  710,900 

Machinery  .  566,000 

Coal,  Coke,  etc .  230,700 

Oil,  Gasoline,  etc .  287,000 

III.  — Common  Trade  : 

Meat,  Fat,  Butter,  Fish .  737,600 

Cereals,  Foods,  Beverages  .  1,343,200 

Gothing,  Shoes  .  373,000 

Tobacco,  Cigars  .  108,900 

Live  Stock  .  377,200 

1  n  the  Belgian  statistics,  "General  Trade”  includes  also  the 

goods  that  are  imported  in  transit,  whereas  "Special  Trade”  is  limited 
to  goods  produced  in  or  imported  for  use  in  the  colony  itself. 

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Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


The  total  value  of  imports  in  1914  was  $8,898,423,  orig¬ 
inating  from  the  following  countries  : 


Belgium  . $4,461,205 

South  Africa  .  1,253,600 

England  .  1,068,893 

Germany  .  600,396 

United  States  .  590,974 

Portuguese  Angola  .  253,830 

France  .  177,340 

Other  countries  .  492,095 


Imports  have  been  considerably  increased  since  1914  by 
the  importation  of  coke  for  the  copper  smelters  in  Ka¬ 
tanga.  This  coke  was  imported  from  Rhodesia  and  South 
Africa,  in  quantities  of  18,362  tons  in  1913,  55,070  tons  in 
1915,  and  91,178  tons  in  1916.  Deducting  these  quantities, 
we  obtain  for  imports  of  general  trade  goods : 


Imports.  Value. 

1913  .  152,440  tons 

1914  .  96,591  tons  . 

1915  .  30,796  tons  $4,490,600 

1916  .  48,499  tons  8,871,200 


Since  the  outbreak  of  the  European  war  most  of  the 
import  and  export  goods  were  handled  through  the 
United  Kingdom,  as  thirty-seven  of  the  Belgian  firms 
trading  in  the  Congo  have  temporarily  placed  their  offices 
in  London. 


Products  Exported 

The  products  exported  from  the  Belgian  Congo  are 
mostly  of  vegetable  origin;  however,  Katanga  copper  is 
being  exported  in  steadily  growing  quantities. 

The  most  important  exports  were  as  follows  : 


Year.  Palm  Kernels.  Palm  Oil. 

1911  .  6,764  tons  2,273  tons 

1912  .  5,895  tons  1,989  tons 

1913  .  7,205  tons  1,974  tons 

1914  .  8,052  tons  2,498  tons 

1915  .  11,024  tons  3,408  tons 

1916  .  22,391  tons  3,852  tons 

1917  .  54,988  tons  5,393  tons 

Copal.  Rubber.  Cocoa. 

1911  .  3,402  681 

1912  .  3,755  3,510  845 

1913  . 4,697  3,624  914 

1914  . 6,993  2,249  482 

1915  .  4,265  2,179  620 

1916  .  8,676  3,017  770 

1917  .  7,402  ....  783 


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National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


Copper. 

Gold. 

Diamonds. 

Ivory. 

1911  . . . . 

.  . .  .  1,015  tons 

1 

.  carats 

. . .  tons 

1912  .... 

.  . .  .  2,463  tons 

1 

.  carats 

233  tons 

1913  .... 

.  . .  .  5,412  tons 

I/2 

15,000  carats 

276  tons 

1914  . . . . 

.  . . .  10,343  tons 

1 

39,000  carats 

295  tons 

1915  .... 

.  .  .  .  14,274  tons 

4 

54,000  carats 

214  tons 

1916  . . . . 

. . . .  21,882  tons 

3 

80,000  carats 

351  tons 

1917  .... 

. .  . .  27,600  tons 

3/4 

182,000  carats 

180  tons 

Concerning  the  export  of  palm  oil,  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
an  acre  of  palm  grove  should  produce,  even  by  the  native 
methods  of  gathering  kernels  and  oil,  about  the  same 
quantity  of  each  of  these  products,  so  that  an  export  of 
50,000  tons  of  palm  kernels  should  give  a  corresponding 
export  of  about  50,000  tons  of  palm  oil.  But  most  of  the 
palm  oil  is  thrown  away  and  lost  through  lack  of  suitable 
casks.  The  Congo  being  covered  with  very  fine  timber, 
there  would  be  an  opening  there  for  several  large  cooper¬ 
age  plants. 

It  .was  estimated  in  1916  that  fully  100,000  tons  of  palm 
kernels  could  have  been  exported  if  transportation  facili¬ 
ties  had  been  more  adequate.  The  number  of  oil  palms 
and  palm  groves  in  the  Congo  is  enormous,  but  the  export 
of  the  oil  and  kernel  was  started  only  a  few  years  ago, 
and  but  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  available  product 
comes  in  the  market. 

Outside  of  producing  palm-oil  and  palm  kernels,  the 
Belgian  Congo  is  eminently  suited  by  rainfall,  tempera¬ 
ture,  and  soil,  for  the  production  of  many  species  of  oil 
seeds.  The  natives  grow  sesamum,  peanuts,  castor  beans, 
melons,  cotton,  etc.,  and  many  forest  trees  produce  oil  or 
fat-bearing  seeds.  The  natives  are  quite  willing  to  gather 
large  quantities  of  natural  products  when  they  are  assured 
of  getting  a  decent  price  for  the  harvested  goods. 

The  Belgian  Congo  was  in  1910  one  of  the  most  impor¬ 
tant  producers  of  native  rubber,  collected  from  the  vines 
or  creepers  in  the  equatorial  forests.  Rubber  sold  at  that 
time  at  10  or  12  shillings  a  pound,  and  the  rubber  trade 
was  a  very  profitable  one.  The  situation  is  quite  different 
now ;  most  of  the  large  vines  have  been  cut  down,  and 
the  price  of  rubber  is  only  about  2  shillings  per  pound. 

Rubber  planting  has  a  good  future  in  the  Congo.  Para 
(or  Hevea)  is  the  most  advisable  species.  Ceara  (Mani- 
hot)  does  well  in  dry  parts  of  the  country. 

Copal  rosin,  of  superior  quality,  is  found  in  large 
quantities  in  the  extensive  swampy  forests  of  Central 
Congo. 

Cocoa  is  very  promising,  and  one  of  the  best  paying 
crops.  The  Congo  cocoa  is  of  good  quality  and  sells  at 
the  same  price  as  Sao  Thome  cocoa. 

Coffee  grows  wild  in  the  Congo  forests,  and  several 
native  Congo  coffee  species  have  been  planted  in  Asia, 
among  them  the  now  widely  known  Robusta  coffee.  Ara- 


8 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


bian  and  Mocha  coffee  of  high  quality  is  grown  on  some 
Congo  plantations. 

Tobacco  is  raised  all  over  the  colony  by  the  natives,  but 
none  of  it  has  been  exported  so  far.  Large  quantities  could 
be  obtained. 

Cotton  is  a  new  crop  and  has  not  yet  come  into  the  trade. 
The  first  consignments  of  native  grown  cotton  have  been 
sold  in  England,  and  fetched  good  prices,  being  classed 
as  Middling  and  Good  Middling.  The  crops  of  cotton 
grown  in  the  Congo  all  belong  to  the  American  Upland 
cotton.  Two  steam  ginneries  were  bought  in  the  United 
States  this  year. 

Rice  is  grown  in  ever-increasing  quantities,  and  ex¬ 
ported  to  surrounding  countries.  The.  Congo  rice  receives 
no  irrigation,  and  is  very  nutritious  and  palatable.  Two 
modern  rice  mills  have  been  erected  by  Government  to 
improve  the  character  of  the  exports. 

Trading  Concerns  Numerous 

The  number  of  trading  houses,  stores  and  branch  offices 
opened  by  European  and  American  traders  in  the  Belgian 
Congo,  is  rapidly  increasing.  The  total  number  of  these 
establishments  was  1,252  in  1915,  and  rose  to  1,337  in 
1916,  an  increase  of  7  per  cent.,  located  as  follows: 


1.  Western  or  Congo-Kassai  Province..  464 

2.  Equatorial  Province  .  239 

3.  Oriental  Province  .  310 

4.  Katanga  Province  .  324 


Total . 1,337 

Trading  in  the  Belgian  Congo  can  be  done  by  private 


persons  or  by  corporations  created  in  the  colony,  in  Bel¬ 
gium,  or  in  a  foreign  country. 

Corporations  created  in  a  foreign  country  are  allowed 
to  establish  branch  offices  in  the  Belgian  Congo  provided 
that  within  six  months  from  the  establishment  of  the 
branch  office  the  following  data  are  filed  in  the  Law 
Courts  of  the  District  or  Province: 

1.  Nature  of  business,  objects  or  purposes  to  be  trans¬ 
acted,  promoted  or  carried  on. 

2.  Names,  places  of  residence,  and  liability  of  stock¬ 
holders. 

3.  Name  of  corporation. 

4.  Names  and  residences  of  directors,  officers  and  per¬ 
sons  by  whom  the  corporation’s  affairs  are  to  be  con¬ 
ducted,  and  who  shall  sign  or  seal  in  name  of  the 
corporation. 

5.  Duration  of  corporate  existence. 

6.  Amount  of  capital  stock;  amount  subscribed  and 
paid  in  by  each  party. 


9 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


7.  Precise  indication  of  stockholders  who  have  to  fur¬ 
nish  money  or  property  to  the  corporation,  and  of 
their  duties  and  liabilities. 

8.  Location  of  office  or  place  of  business  where  actions 
can  be  legally  notified. 

Foreign  corporations  have  to  file  an  authenticated  copy 
of  their  articles  or  charter  of  incorporation;  the  names 
and  residences  of  their  representatives  in  the  Belgian 
Congo.  Foreign  corporations  shall  maintain  one  or  more 
places  of  business  within  the  colony,  where  legal  process 
against  the  corporation  may  be  served. 

Principal  Corporations  Operating  in  the  Belgian  Congo 

Capital  Stock 
(Shares  and  Debentures) 


Railways  Dollars 

Chemin  de  fer  du  Congo . .  19,400,000 

Chemin  de  fer  du  Katanga  .  16,000,000 

Chemin  de  fer  des  Grands  Lacs  .  15,000,000 

Chemin  de  fer  du  Mayumbe  .  900,000 

Chemin  de  fer  Bas  Congo  Katanga .  400,000 

Ocean  and  River  Steamer  Lines 

Cie.  Maritime  Beige  du  Congo  .  2,837,432 

Societe  Anonyme  Citas  (river)  .  600,000 

Agricultural 

Soc.  Agricole  du  Mayumbe .  700,000 

Cie.  Subscriere  Europeenne  et  Coloniale.  700,000 

La  Luinha  .  680,000 

Societe  de  Cultures  au  Congo  .  600,000 

La  Luki  . 400,000 

Societe  de  Colonisation  agricole  Mayumbe  300,000 

Lukula  .  300,000 

Plantations  Hallet  .  280,000 

Sukdi  Lubao  .  260,000 

Soc.  An.  Produits  Vegetaux  du  Haut 

Kasai  .  250,000 

Urselia  (Cacao)  .  200,000 

Kiniati  .  152,000 

Societe  d’Agriculture  et  plantation .  120,000 

Mining 

Union  Miniere  du  Flaut  Katanga .  6,500,000 

Internationale  Forestiere  et  Miniere .  1,600,000 

Beige  Industrielle  et  Miniere  du  Katanga.  1,200,000 

Societe  Miniere  de  Tele  .  900,000 

Cie.  Geologique  Miniere  .  700,000 

Societe  Anversoise  pour  la  recherche  de 

Mines  au  Katanga  .  600,000 

Societe  de  recherches  minieres  Lufira....  600,000 
Societe  de  recherches  minieres  du  Bas 

Katanga  .  400,000 

Societe  Miniere  Congolaise  .  200,000 

10 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


Banks 

Banque  du  Congo  Beige  (State  guar.)..  1,000,000 

Banque  Commerciale  du  Congo  .  200,000 

Trading  Corporations 

Huileries  du  Congo  Beige  .  6,000,000 

Cie.  du  Kasai  .  1,800,000 

Credit  Colonial  et  Commercial  .  l.u,. 

Societe  Coloniale  Anversoise  .  1,500,000 

Societe  des  Petroles  au  Congo .  1,200,000 

Societe  Commerciale  et  Financiere  Afri- 

caine  .  1,200,000 

Soc.  An.  Beige  pour  le  Commerce  du 

Haut  Congo  .  1,010,000 

Beige  Katanga  .  1,000,000 

Societe  Commerciale  et  Miniere  .  600,000 

Societe  Forestiere  et  commerciale  du 

Congo  . . . .  600,000 

Cie.  du  Lomarni  .  600,000 

Societe  Belgica  .  600,000 

Nieuwe  Afrik.  Handelsmaatschappy 

(Dutch)  .  600,000 

Cie.  du  Congo  pour  le  Commerce  et  l’ln- 

dustrie  .  418,450 

Intertropical  Anglo-Belgian  Trading  ....  400,000 

La  Mercantile  Anversoise  .  400,000 

Cie.  des  Produits  du  Congo .  240,000 

Societe  Coloniale  de  Construction  .  250,000 

Societe  Franco-Beige  d’Elevage  .  200,000 

Cie.  Commerciale  et  Agricole  d’Alimenta- 

tion  du  Bas  Congo .  200,000 

Comptoire  Congolais  Velde  .  200,000 

Societe  Equatoriale  Congolaise  .  200,000 

Societe  Imimobiliere  du  Katanga .  200,000 

Congo  Oriental  Co .  200,000 

Societe  Isanghi  .  140,000 

Societe  Anonyme  Beige  de  l’Uele  .  120,000 

Societe  d’Etude  des  Pecheries  .  130,000 

Societe  l’lkelemba  .  100,000 

Cie.  Bruxellise  pour  le  commerce .  100,000 

Comptoir  du  Katanga  .  100,000 

Syndicat  d’Etudes  et  d’Enterprises  .  100,000 

Shares  with  Undesignated  Value : 

Cie.  du  Congo  Beige .  34,000  shares 

Comptoir  Commercial  Congolais .  23,288 

Plantations  Lacourt. 

N.  B. — The  relative  importance  of  the  companies  cannot 
be  deduced  from  their  amount  of  capital  stock.  The  list 
is  incomplete ,  full  information  about  the  Congo  companies 
being  unavailable  on  account  of  the  war. 

Corporations  with  limited  liability  have  to  pay  an  an¬ 
nual  tax  on  the  profits  made  in  the  Colony.  Corporations 
created  in  the  Congo  pay  2  per  cent  of  these  profits.  For¬ 
eign  corporations  pay  1  per  cent. 

11 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


Trade  Languages  in  the  Congo 

French  and  Flemish,  being  the  national  languages  of 
Belgium,  are  exclusively  used  in  all  official  matters,  proc¬ 
lamations,  decrees,  legal  procedure,  etc.  French  is  largely 
dominant.  Some  English  is  spoken  in  the  extreme  south 
of  Katanga,  owing  to  the  presence  of  about  200  English 
and  American  engineers  and  foremen  among  the  staff  of 
the  copper  mines.  Englishmen  and  Americans  are  met  in 
all  important  centers,  and  many  of  the  Belgians  speak  Eng¬ 
lish  also. 

In  trading  with  natives  the  local  native  language  has  to 
be  used.  There  are  hundreds  of  different  native  languages 
in  the  Congo,  widely  different  from  one  another.  This 
babel  of  tongues  brought  about  the  introduction  of  so- 
called  commercial  or  trading  languages. 

The  most  important  of  these  is  the  Swahili  or  Kiswahili, 
a  language  introduced  by  the  Arab  slave  traders,  and  now 
spoken  in  the  whole  Eastern  half  of  equatorial  Africa. 
It  is  a  mixture  of  Arabic  and  Bantu  words,  with  a  com¬ 
plicated  grammar. 

Swahili  is  spoken  in  the  Eastern  districts,  from  Lake 
Albert  to  Stanleyville,  thence  south  to  Bukama,  and  the 
copper  mines  of  Katanga,  and  all  around  Tanganyka  Lake. 
Many  of  the  natives  in  the  villages  have  learned  Swahili 
during  their  trips  to  the  mines  or  towards  the  River,  so 
that  it  is  generally  possible,  even  in  remote  villages,  to  find 
one  or  two  men  who  understand  and  speak  Swahili. 

In  the  central  part  of  the  Congo,  Lingala  (or  Bangala) 
is  the  trading  language  on  the  Congo  River  and  its  sur¬ 
roundings,  and  Kiluba  is  spoken  all  over  the  Kassai  and 
a  large  part  of  Central  Katanga.1 

In  the  Western  Congo  (Boma,  Matadi,  Leopoldville) 
Swahili  is  not  understood ;  Bangala  is  known  by  many 
natives.  The  common  language  is  Fiote  or  Kikongo. 

White  traders  easily  pick  up  the  few  words  that  are 
necessary  to  trade  with  natives.  Simplified  grammars  and 
dictionaries  have  been  published  by  the  Government  or  by 
Missionaries  for  every  important  native  language,  and 
can  be  obtained  easily  for  a  few  cents. 

Articles  and  Methods  of  Trade 

The  principal  objects  of  trade  in  Equatorial  Africa  are 
the  natural  products  of  the  forests.  They  include  rubber, 
copal,  oilseeds,  and  hundreds  of  vegetable  products,  fibers, 
gums,  tanning  barks,  etc.  The  natives  used  to  exchange  or 
barter  these  products,  and  also  ivory,  against  European 
hardware,  cotton,  drills,  beads,  clothes,  etc. 

In  order  better  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  the  na¬ 
tives,  buying  and  selling  by  barter  has  now  been  pro- 

1  The  prefixes  Ki  and  Li  indicate  the  meaning  of  language.  The 
prefix  Ba  means  people.  So  Bangala  means  the  N gala  tribe; 
Lingala  the  Ngala  language.  Baluba  means  the  Luba  people;  Kiluba 
means  the  Luba  language.  Kiswahili,  the  language  of  the  Swahili. 

12 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


hibited  by  the  Belgian  Government,  and  payments  have 
to  be  made  in  money. 

The  natives  are  free  to  collect  produce  in  the  State 
forests.  Any  person  residing  in  the  Congo  can  obtain  a 
permit  enabling  him  to  collect  or  buy  from  the  natives 
these  vegetable  products.  The  permit  is  annual,  costs  $5, 
and  is  delivered  by  the  District  Commissioner. 

Ivory  is  subjected  to  special  rules  and  taxes.  Natives 
may  kill  elephants  under  a  license  delivered  (free)  by  the 
District  Commissioner.  White  men  have  to  pay  $200  to 
$300  yearly  for  a  license  to  shoot  adult  male  elephants 
(two).  No  female  nor  young  elephants  may  be  killed. 
Ivory  trading  and  export  are  subjected  to  high  taxes,  and 
tusks  weighing  less  than  5  pounds  cannot  be  exported. 

Spirits,  or  liquids  containing  more  than  8  per  cent,  al¬ 
cohol,  cannot  be  sold  or  given  or  entrusted  to  natives.  It 
has  not  been  useful  or  possible  hitherto  to  restrict  the  use 
and  sale  of  liquids  containing  less  than  8  per  cent,  alcohol, 
as  the  natives  all  over  Africa  are  used  to  making  wine  or 
beer  with  native  produce  (corn,  sorghum,  pineapple,  palm- 
juice,  wheat,  etc.). 

White  men  cannot  import  spirits  or  trade  in  liquors 
without  paying  high  taxes,  obtaining  special  permits,  and 
submitting  to  stringent  rules.  Selling  spirits  per  glass  is 
prohibited ;  no  white  man  can  buy  less  than  half  a  pint  in 
a  sealed  bottle,  nor  more  than  three  quarts  per  month ; 
every  sale  has  to  be  entered  in  a  special  book.  The  trade 
in  alcoholic  liquors  is  controlled  by  rather  complicated 
rules  which  should  be  carefully  studied,  as  heavy  penalties 
are  incurred  for  disregarding  the  law. 

Firearms  and  ammunition  are  subject  to  very  stringent 
regulations.  Only  flintlock,  smooth-bore  guns  and  com¬ 
mon  black  powder  can  be  sold  freely  to  natives.  A  spe¬ 
cial  license  has  to  be  procured ;  fee,  $10. 

Modern  guns,  including  all  cartridge-firing  weapons  and 
percussion-cap  guns  and  pistols,  may  not  be  sold  to  na¬ 
tives.  They  have  to  be  registered  and  stamped  by  the 
Custom  House  officials.  The  number  of  rifled  bore  guns 
allowed  to  each  person  is  strictly  limited.  Traders  should 
carefully  peruse  the  special  regulations  for  firearms. 

Rubber  may  be  bought  in  any  quantity  and  exported,  if 
exempt  of  adulteration,  and  if  it  contains  less  than  IS  per 
cent,  of  foreign  matter.  Adulterated  or  impure  rubber 
may  not  be  exported  from  the  Belgian  Congo. 

Palm-kernels  and  palm-oil  may  be  bought  in  any  quan¬ 
tity  and  exported,  but  nobody  is  allowed  to  pay  to  the 
natives  more  than  a  maximum  price.  This  law  was  passed 
because  some  irresponsible  traders  disturbed  the  market 
by  paying  exorbitant  prices  during  a  few  days,  in  order  to 
snatch  away  the  trade  from  their  competitors.  The  sub¬ 
sequent  fall  in  prices  made  the  natives  distrustful  and  was 
highly  detrimental  to  the  development  of  normal  trade. 


13 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


The  maximum  price  established  by  the  Government  is 
still  considerably  above  the  normal  value  of  the  products 
in  Central  Africa. 

Timber  may  not  be  cut  without  special  licenses.  This 
does  not  apply  to  firewood  for  private  use. 

Special  regulations  have  been  made  for  the  manufac¬ 
ture  and  trade  of  foodstuffs  (flour,  bread,  coffee,  beer, 
jam,  mineral  water,  rice,  saccharine,  etc.). 

Public  and  Native  Markets 

Public  markets  are  markets  established  in  Government 
stations  and  towns,  and  where  natives  sell  their  produce. 
The  days  and  hours  of  these  markets  are  appointed  by  the 
District  Commissioner.  Nobody  is  allowed  to  buy,  sell  or 
exchange  native  products  on  the  public  thoroughfare 
within  a  circle  of  three  to  six  miles  radius  of  the  market 
place ;  this  rule  was  established  in  order  that  the  interests 
of  the  natives  may  be  cared  for. 

Special  regulations  are  to  be  put  in  force  for  the  cotton 
markets. 

Native  markets  are  those  that  are  held  in  the  native 
villages,  on  days  and  hours  determined  by  the  District 
Commissioner. 

Trade  Caravans 

The  Belgian  Government  is  anxious  to  prevent  every 
abuse  bearing  on  the  native  population.  Trade  caravans 
cannot  be  organized  without  a  written  permit  from  the 
District  Commissioner  and  the  forwarding  to  this  official 
of  a  document  giving  the  names  and  residences  of  all  the 
carriers,  women  and  children  in  the  caravan,  and  detailing 
the  salaries  and  conditions  of  the  enlistment.  In  every 
Government  Station  where  the  caravan  passes  through 
this  written  document  and  the  whole  caravan  have  to  be 
brought  before  the  Government  official,  who  sees  that  the 
stipulated  conditions  are  properly  carried  out  and  the  sal¬ 
aries  paid ;  he  receives  any  complaint  that  the  carriers 
wish  to  make. 

The  trader  is  responsible  for  any  damage  done  by  mem¬ 
bers  of  his  caravan.  Before  starting  he  has  to  deposit  $8 
per  carrier;  this  money  is  refunded  six  months  after  the 
caravan  has  come  back  to  its  starting  point. 

Currency,  Weights  and  Measures 

The  monetary  unit  is  the  Belgian  (or  French)  franc 
($0.20).  Bank  notes  issued  by  the  Banque  du  Congo 
Beige  (guaranteed  by  Government)  are  the  only  paper 
money  that  is  legal  tender.  Copper  and  nickel  coins  are 
special  to  the  Colony,  whereas  any  gold  and  silver  coins 
of  the  Latin  Union  are  admitted,  excepting  some  Italian 
and  Greek  coins.  Silver  coins,  especially  the  half  franc 
($0.10),  the  franc  ($0.20),  and  the  2-franc  piece  ($0.40) 
are  the  most  useful;  also  the  5-franc  silver  coin  ($1.00). 
Nickel  is  coming  into  use;  copper  is  generally  rejected; 


14 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


paper  money  is  not  favored  by  the  natives,  as  it  is  easily 
destroyed  or  lost. 

The  unit  of  weight  is  the  French  kilogram  (2.2  lbs). 
The  unit  of  measure  is  the  French  liter  (\Va  pints). 

The  unit  of  length  is  the  meter  (39  1/3  in.),  and  for 
roads  and  distances  the  kilometer  (0.62  miles),  or  the  Bel¬ 
gian  league  (5  kilometers,  or  3  miles). 

Prohibition  of  Barter  and  Payments  Made  in  Advance 

In  order  better  to  protect  the  economic  interests  of  the 
natives,  the  Belgian  Government  has  made  it  unlawful  to 
buy  or  sell  goods  by  exchange  or  barter;  this  has  been 
already  put  in  force  in  several  Districts  and  will  soon  be 
applied  in  every  part  of  the  Colony. 

Traders  used  formerly  to  advance  money  or  goods  to 
natives,  these  advances  to  be  repaid  later  with  native  pro¬ 
duce  or  money.  As  this  system  allowed  of  rather  frequent 
abuse,  payment  in  advance  is  now  strictly  prohibited,  ex¬ 
cepting  when  the  native  is  a  regular  licensed  trader  or  a 
servant  or  employee. 

Personal  Taxes  to  Be  Paid  by  Traders 

Traders  pay  annual  taxes  to  Government  on  four  bases : 

I.  Dwelling  houses  and  stores,  $0.02  to  $0.20  per 
square  meter. 

II.  Unused  plots  in  towns,  $0.01  per  10  square  meters. 

III.  White  workmen  and  employees,  $4.00  to  $10.00  per 

head. 

Native  workmen  and  employees,  $0.20  to  $5.00  per 
head. 

IV.  Steamers,  motor  boats,  $4.00  to  $8.00  per  ton. 

Towed  barges  and  boats,  $2.00  to  $4.00  per  ton. 

Sail  and  rowboats,  $2.00  per  boat. 

Traders  who  have  no  fixed  store  in  the  Colony  (ped¬ 
dlers)  have  to  buy  a  license  of  $40.  The  license  costs 
$100  for  those  trading  also  in  rubber,  copal  and  ivory. 

Natives  pay  no  taxes,  except  if  they  own  a  store  or  fac¬ 
tory  with  at  least  one  employee. 

B 

TRAVEL  AND  TRANSPORTATION 

The  Belgian  Congo  can  be  reached  by  a  number  of  rail 
and  steamer  lines,  affording  every  facility  for  travel  and 
for  the  transportation  of  goods. 

In  fact,  no  other  Central  African  Colony  is  to  be  com¬ 
pared  with  the  Belgian  Congo  in  this  respect,  or  in  re¬ 
spect  of  the  work  that  has  been  done,  and  is  contemplated, 
to  improve  the  means  of  communication. 

The  routes  leading  to  the  Colony  are  the  following : 

(a)  From  the  West :  The  ocean  steamers  or  sailing 
ships  ascend  the  Congo  River  to  Boma  (54  miles),  the 


15 


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National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


capital  of  the  Colony,  and  Matadi,  the  trans-shipping  port. 
Sailing  ships  are  towed  from  Banana,  the  river  mouth,  to 
Matadi,  a  distance  of  98  miles. 

The  Lower  Congo  Railway  starts  from  Matadi,  ascends 
the  steep  gradients  of  the  Pallaballa  and  Crystal  moun¬ 
tain  ranges,  and  reaches  Kinshasa,  the  principal  commer¬ 
cial  center  of  the  Congo,  where  most  of  the  trading  firms 
are  established,  and  from  whence  the  Government  and 
private  steamers  start  towards  the  center  of  the  Colony. 
The  railway  has  a  narrow  gauge  (2  ft.  6  in.),  and  the 
trains  cover  a  distance  of  250  miles  in  two  days,  stopping 
one  night  at  Thysville. 

Comfortable  hotels  are  to  be  found  in  Boma,  Matadi, 
Thysville  and  Kinshasa.  Thysville  is  about  halfway,  and, 
owing  to  the  elevation  (3,000  ft.),  has  a  temperate  and 
bracing  climate. 

The  river  steamers  run  from  Kinshasa  to  Stanleyville, 
a  town  situate  about  1,000  miles  up  the  broad  Congo  River. 
Other  steamers  run  on  the  Kasai  and  Sankuru  rivers  to 
Lusambo  (640  miles). 

Stanleyville  is  connected  by  rail  and  steamer  with  the 
Katanga  copper  and  tin  district,  with  the  East  Coast  of 
Africa  (Dar  es  Salaam),  and  with  South  Africa  and  Cape¬ 
town. 

A  railway  has  been  located  from  Stanleyville  to  Lake 
Albert  and  the  Nile;  this  stretch  is  now  partly  covered 
by  a  motor-car  service,  partly  by  walking  (trekking)  and 
camping.  This  trip  takes  about  five  weeks. 

From  Lusambo,  head  of  the  Kasai  and  Sankuru  river 
line,  the  traveler  can  reach  the  Great  Lakes  Railway  (175 
miles:  two  weeks’  walking  and  camping),  and  proceed  to 
Katanga  and  South  Africa,  or  towards  Tanganyka  Lake 
and  the  East  Coast. 

(b)  From  the  South:  Several  important  lines  of  Brit¬ 
ish  and  Portuguese  steamers  call  at  Capetown  and  also  at 
Port  Elizabeth,  the  principal  importing  center  of  South 
Africa.  Express  trains  with  dining  and  sleeping  car  serv¬ 
ice  run  north  to  Buluwayo,  the  Victoria  Falls  and  the  Bel¬ 
gian  Congo. 

Trains  pass  Elizabethville,  the  head  town  of  .Katanga 
(1,200  whites,  5,000  colored)  and  run  through  the  Copper 
Mining  District ;  they  reach  the  Congo  River  and  the  new 
tin  fields  at  Bukama  (453  miles  from  the  Congo  border 
and  2,000  miles  from  Capetown). 

From  Bukama  the  traveler  can  follow  the  boat  and  rail 
line  to  Stanleyville  and  the  Lower  Congo,  or  travel  to 
Lake  Tanganyka,  German  East  Africa,  Dar  es  Salaam,  and 
Zanzibar,  connecting  there  with  the  East  Coast,  India  and 
Suez  Canal  steamer  lines.  Or  he  can  travel  overland  to 
Lusambo  (15  days’  walking  and  camping),  where  he 
strikes  the  steamer  line  (640  miles),  running  towards  Kin¬ 
shasa,  Matadi  and  the  West  Coast. 


18 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


(c)  From  the  East:  Steamers  call  at  Durban  and 
Beira,  from  where  well  equipped  express  trains  run  to 
the  Congo,  via  Johannesburg  and  the  Transvaal  gold 
fields,  or  via  Salisbury  (Rhodesia).  They  pass  through 
Buluwayo,  Victoria  Falls,  Elizabethville  (Katanga)  and 
reach  Bukama  on  the  Congo  River. 

From  Zanzibar  and  Dar  es  Salaam,  another  railroad  runs 
through  German  East  Africa  to  Kigoma,  on  Lake  Tan- 
ganyka  (700  miles),  from  whence  a  Belgian  steamer  and 
railway  line  connects  with  the  Congo  River  steamers  run¬ 
ning  from  Kabalo  north  towards  Stanleyville  and  south 
towards  the  Katanga. 

A  third  route  starts  from  Mombassa  (British  East  Af¬ 
rica).  The  railway  runs  to  Nairobi  and  the  Victoria 
Nyanza.  The  Victoria  Lake  (or  Nyanza)  is  crossed  on 
1,000-ton  steamers,  and  gives  connection  at  Jinja  with  a 
rail,  steamer  and  motor-car  road  to  Lake  Albert,  the  Nile 
River  and  the  Eastern  Congo  gold  district. 

An  alternative  motor  road  runs  from  Kampala  to  Toro 
and  the  Belgian  border.  A  motor  road  connects  Lake 
Albert  with  Kilo,  the  central  town  of  the  Gold  district. 
From  there  four  to  five  weeks  of  trekking  and  camping, 
along  the  location  of  the  future  railway,  bring  the  trav¬ 
eler  to  Stanleyville  on  the  Congo  River,  where  he  strikes 
the  Katanga-South  Africa  and  the  Kinshasa-West  Coast 
rail  and  steamer  lines. 

(d)  From  the  North:  The  Egypt  and  Sudan  route  starts 
from  Port  Said  or  Alexandria  for  Cairo  and  Khartum, 
from  which  place  river  steamers  run  to  Lado,  head  of 
the  motor  route  towards  the  Belgian  Congo  border  at 
Aba.  From  Aba,  two  or  three  weeks’  walking  (12  to  IS 
miles  a  day)  brings  you  to  Bambili  (300  miles)  and  the 
motor-car  road  leading  to  Buta,  and  the  Itimbiri  and 
Congo  rivers. 

Projected  Railways  and  Steamer  Lines 

Roads  of  access  to  the  Congo  have  been  surveyed  by 
the  Government  and  by  private  concerns,  in  order  to  open 
new  districts. 

From  die  North,  a  French  trans-Saharian  railroad  is 
projected  and  would  start  from  Algeria  on  the  Mediterra¬ 
nean  border. 

From  the  West,  a  British  railroad  starts  from  Lobito 
Bay  and  Benguella,  going  towards  the  copper  mines.  It 
has  reached  about  halfway  to  Katanga. 

From  the  South,  a  short  line  is  being  located  between 
Beira  on  the  East  Coast  and  Elizabethville  to  Katanga,  in 
order  to  provide  a  short  connection  with  the  sea. 

In  the  Belgian  Congo  itself  a  railroad  line  was  located 
years  ago  from  Stanleyville  to  Lake  Albert  and  the  Nile, 
this  line  being  the  last  link  to  be  built  to  complete  the 
Cape  to  Cairo  line,  one  of  the  great  world  highways,  con- 


19 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


necting  South  Africa  overland  with  Cairo,  Jerusalem,  Con¬ 
stantinople,  Paris  and  London  (a  total  distance  of  8,000 
miles).  This  railway  line  to  Lake  Albert  will  run  through 
the  whole  gold  field  of  the  North-Eastern  Congo. 

The  Belgian  Government,  just  before  the  war,  had  a 
line  surveyed  from  Bukama  (Katanga)  to  Kinshasa  (800 
miles). 

In  order  to  offer  cheaper  freight  for  agricultural  and 
mineral  produce,  the  Government  is  now  studying  a  scheme 
of  towboat  and  barge  transportation  on  the  river,  follow¬ 
ing  the  methods  used  on  the  Mississippi  River.  American 
steamers  and  barges  and  American  experts  have  been  sug¬ 
gested  to  that  effect. 

Fast  Passenger  Traffic  Towards  Stanleyville 

The  town  of  Stanleyville,  situated  in  the  very  center  of 
Africa,  had  been  selected  by  Germany  as  the  future  head 
town  or  capital  city  of  her  Central  African  Empire,  and 
was  to  be  called  Wilhelmstadt. 

A  fast  passenger  shallow  draft  steamer,  built  in  Pitts¬ 
burgh,  Pa.,  has  been  bought  by  the  Belgian  Government 
and  sent  to  the  Congo.  She  will  materially  reduce  the 
time  of  the  trans-Africa  travel,  as  it  is  expected  to  cover 
the  Stanleyville-Ivinshasa  run  (1,000  miles)  in  five  days, 
instead  of  the  ten  or  twelve  that  are  required  now.  Sim¬ 
ilar  improvements  are  being  projected  on  other  sections  of 
the  Congo  routes  and  will  make  the  whole  of  this  territory 
readily  accessible  to  travelers  and  traders. 

Remarkable  River  System 

The  Belgian  Congo  has  its  most  valuable  asset  in  its 
splendid  network  of  rivers,  the  second  greatest  river  system 
in  the  world.  The  Congo  River  proper  has  a  total  length  of 
more  than  2,300  miles,  and  discharges  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  at  Banana,  a  volume  of  water  that  is  second  only 
to  the  discharge  of  the  Amazon  River  in  Brazil. 

The  Lower  Congo  River,  near  the  sea,  is,  however,  not 
navigable  for  a  distance  of  about  300  miles,  being  inter¬ 
rupted  by  rapids  and  waterfalls  in  four  or  five  places. 
Expert  engineers  are  of  opinion  that  locks  and  short 
canals  could  be  built  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,000  to  $30,000,000 
and  enable  the  river  steamers  and  barges  to  bring  their 
cargoes  down  to  Matadi  and  Boma  for  trans-shipment  to 
the  ocean  steamers. 

Above  the  falls,  the  river  expands  and  forms  the  Stanley 
Pool.  From  that  point  the  Congo  River,  for  more  than 
900  miles,  is  navigable  by  steamers  drawing  8  to  10  feet  of 
water.  In  many  places  the  width  of  this  magnificent  river 
is  nearly  10  miles ;  it  is  seldom  less  than  3  to  4  miles. 
Even  at  2,000  miles  from  its  mouth  the  Congo  is  more 
than  1,000  feet  broad  and  6  to  8  feet  deep.  Near  Bukama, 
the  shallowest  part  of  the  river,  there  are  still  about  3  feet 
of  water  during  the  driest  season  of  the  year. 


20 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


These  depths  are  greater  than  those  of  most  of  the 
large  European  and  American  rivers  that  carry  heavy 
traffic.  In  fact,  without  having  had  to  spend  any  money 
to  improve  its  waterways,  the  Belgian  Congo  has  a  river 
system  that  can  be  compared,  as  to  depth  of  water,  with 
the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  the  Mississippi,  the  Ohio  and  other 
rivers  that  have  had  to  be  improved  at  great  cost. 

About  150  steamers  are  plying  on  the  Congo  rivers. 
Large  500-ton  stern-wheelers,  carrying  freight,  and  200- 
ton  passenger  boats  are  run  by  the  Government  and  by 
some  private  companies  on  the  principal  reach  of  the 
river,  between  Kinshasa  and  Stanleyville.  Smaller  steam¬ 
ers  run  on  the  Stanleyville-Bukama  line  and  on  the  Kin- 
shasa-Lusambo  line. 

The  Congo  River  has  interesting  and  grand  scenery,  its 
course  lying  through  the  mighty  Equatorial  Forest  and 
being  dotted  with  about  4,000  palm-clad  islands,  some  of 
them  quite  small,  some  of  them  very  large,  even  20  to  30 
miles  long.  Near  Bukama,  the  Congo  River  flows  through 
an  enormous  sea  of  green  papyri,  exactly  similar  to  those 
that  are  found  in  the  Sudd  District  of  the  Nile.  They 
cover  a  number  of  small  lakes  around  Lake  Kisale,  and 
are  alive  with  water  fowl ;  hippopotamus  and  crocodiles 
are  numerous  everywhere ;  large  and  small  antelope  and 
even  elephant  are  to  be  seen  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer. 

The  native  population,  numbering  from  ten  to  fifteen 
million  people,  live  mostly  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and 
of  its  extensive  tributaries,  aggregating  about  12,000  miles 
of  water  navigable  by  steamers.  The  size  of  the  Congo 
waterways  will  be  better  understood  by  Americans  if  we 
say  that  the  navigable  rivers  accessible  to  shallowdraft 
steamers  have  about  the  same  total  length  as  the  whole 
combined  Mississippi  and  Missouri  river  system. 

c 

AGRICULTURE  AND  FORESTRY 

When  the  Belgians,  forty  years  ago,  started  their  first 
experiments  in  colonial  \vork,  nobody  in  Belgium  had  any 
knowledge  of  tropical  agriculture.  The  Congo  Free  State 
tried  large  plantations  of  rubber  vines,  funtumia,  coffee 
and  cocoa,  but  nearly  all  of  them  were  failures,  owing  to 
the  lack  of  upkeep  or  unsuitability  of  the  species  for  eco¬ 
nomic  purposes.  Much  care  was  given  in  those  times  to 
botanical  work  and  theory,  but  practical  farming  and 
planting  were  quite  neglected. 

As  soon  as  the  Congo  was  annexed  by  the  Belgians 
(1908-1909)  steps  were  taken  to  provide  for  efficient  re¬ 
search  in  tropical  agriculture  by  an  Agricultural  Depart¬ 
ment  equipped  on  the  most  modern  lines.  Large  grants 
of  money  were  provided,  averaging  about  $400,000  a  year 
for  the  last  ten  years. 


21 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


The  work  was  begun  in  1910.  Planting  of  funtumia, 
or  Lagos  rubber  tree,  was  stopped,  and  replaced  by  hevea 
or  Para  rubber  cultivation.  The  old  State  Plantations 
were  inspected,  and  most  of  them  altered  or  abandoned 
as  valueless.  The  planting  operations  generally  weie  re¬ 
duced  from  year  to  year,  and  only  the  best  plantations 
were  given  any  extension. 

The  Agricultural  Department  in  the  Congo 

In  the  meantime,  measures  were  taken  to  educate  a 
number  of  agricultural  experts,  who  were  sent  to  Java, 
Ceylon,  India,  Egypt,  and  to  most  of  the  British,  French, 
Portuguese  and  German  colonies  in  Africa.  Large  con¬ 
signments  of  seeds  and  of  every  kind  of  economic  plants 
of  the  Tropics  were  brought  from  overseas,  and  foreign 
experts  were  enlisted  for  cotton  cultivation,  steam-plowing 
and  rice-milling.  The  officials  of  the  Agricultural  De¬ 
partment  are  mostly  Belgians,  but  not  a  few  are  Italians 
or  Swiss,  and  some  are  British  or  American. 

The  State  Plantations  are  intended  to  prove  and  show 
to  the  settlers  what  export  crops  are  remunerative  in  the 
Colony,  how  they  should  be  grown,  the  produce  prepared, 
the  fungus  and  insect  eliminated,  plagues  suppressed,  etc. 
The  first  researches  were  devoted  to  investigations  on  me¬ 
teorology,  soils,  varieties  of  plants  and  trees,  breeds  of 
cattle,  methods  of  cultivation,  diseases,  etc.  Also  to  the 
clearing  and  planting  of  large  plantations  of  rubber,  cof¬ 
fee,  cocoa,  etc.,  mixed  farming,  forestry,  fruit,  flower  and 
ornamental  gardening.  Five  fully  equipped  laboratories 
have  been  erected.  Two  are  specializing  in  the  study  of 
soils.  Two  others  work  on  plant  diseases  and  injurious 
insects.  One  is  devoted  to  bacteriological  research  on  the 
diseases  of  cattle,  horses,  and  all  species  of  farm  animals. 
A  special  station  is  devoted  to  the  training  of  African  ele¬ 
phants,  -and  has  35  trained  elephants. 

In  1916,  when  sufficient  experience  had  been  acquired  in 
these  special  pursuits,  a  start  was  made  to  develop  native 
agriculture,  and  the  head  of  the  Agricultural  Department 
went  to  Egypt,  the  Soudan,  Uganda,  British  East  Africa  and 
Mozambique  to  gather  information  about  the  methods  ap¬ 
plied  in  those  countries  to  the  improvements  of  native 
husbandry. 

Native  Agriculture 

The  District  Commissioner  of  each  one  of  the  22  dis¬ 
tricts  of  Belgian  Congo  is  assisted  in  agricultural  matters 
by  one,  or  in  specially  important  regions,  such  as  cotton¬ 
growing  districts,  by  several  agricultural  officials.  These 
begin  their  work  by  studying  the  agricultural  methods  of 
each  one  of  the  various  and  often  numerous  native  tribes 
inhabiting  the  district.  Monographs  on  these  studies  are 
published,  usually  with  a  number  of  photographs,  in  the 
Bulletin  Agricole  du  Congo  Beige,  a  quarterly  magazine. 


22 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


The  numerous  varieties  of  each  plant  cultivated  by  the 
tribes  are  noted  and  tested.  Seeds  and  plants,  cattle  and 
improved  implements  are  distributed  free,  and  advice  is 
given. 

The  District  Agriculturist  has  to  be  a  good  linguist  and 
to  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  natives.  He  has  to  report 
to  headquarters  on  the  state  of  native  and  European  agri¬ 
culture  in  his  district,  to  study  the  marketing  and  trans¬ 
portation  of  crops,  and  to  suggest  any  improvement  in 
legislation,  administration,  transport,  roads,  cultivation, 
etc.,  that  he  believes  profitable  to  the  natives  or  to  the 
white  settlers  in  his  district.  He  will  also  be  in  charge  of 
the  agricultural  schools  for  natives  that  are  to  be  organ¬ 
ized  in  several  districts  this  year. 

Introduction  and  extension  of  cotton  and  rice  growing 
were  started  in  1917,  and  a  law  passed  whereby  the  native 
can  be  compelled  to  make  plantations  or  cultivate  export 
crops  for  his  own  use,  providing  that  the  work  on  these 
crops  does  not  exceed  five  days  per  month.  The  measure 
was  taken  because  the  natural  laziness  of  the  average 
African  was  thought  to  be  hopeless.  However,  this  law 
has  not  been  called  into  operation  hitherto  as  the  natives, 
who  are  really  intelligent  and  good  agriculturists  and 
traders,  soon  grasped  how  much  benefit  was  to  be  derived 
for  them  from  the  new  crops.  The  Government  guaran¬ 
tees  the  sale  of  these  crops  at  a  price  remunerative  to  the 
native. 

As  a  result  of  this  agricultural  propaganda,  the  natives 
of  the  Congo  have  planted  since  1916,  in  addition  to  their 
usual  food  crops,  several  million  oil-palms,  and  produced 
20,000  tons  of  rice,  instead  of  formerly  5,000,  also  about 
600  tons  of  very  fair  cotton. 

The  cotton  crop  of  next  year,  1919,  is  expected  to  yield 
about  1,500  to  2,000  tons.  The  cotton  grown  in  the  Congo 
is  American  upland,  and  the  work  is  done  by  an  American 
expert,  with  a  staff  of  several  officials  of  the  Agricultural 
Department.  Two  steam  cotton-gins  have  been  bought  in 
the  United  States  and  are  to  be  sent  to  the  Congo  this 
year,  along  with  a  number  of  hand-gins. 

The  Agricultural  Department  is  now  collecting  informa¬ 
tion  in  order  to  organize  systematically  a  large  agricultural 
production  by  the  natives.  This  requires,  first  of  all,  a 
suitable  and  powerful  equipment  of  mechanical  transport 
by  river,  rail  and  roads.  It  is  quite  easy  to  get  the  natives 
to  grow  cotton,  rice  and  other  crops  for  export,  but  the 
delivery  of  these  crops  would  exact  a  very  heavy  toll  of 
labor  from  the  native  farmers,  as  each  one  of  them  would 
have  to  carry  the  whole  crop,  in  56-pound  loads,  to  the 
nearest  steamer  landing,  two  or  three  days’  walk  from  his 
village.  This  would  mean  continuous  and  tiring  work 
during  one  to  three  months  a  year.  Improvement  of  me¬ 
chanical  transport  on  land  and  water  will  solve  this  dif¬ 
ficulty. 


23 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


Careful  attention  is  given  by  the  District  Commissioners 
and  by  the  Governors  of  the  Provinces  to  the  use  and 
ownership  of  land,  in  order  to  improve  the  conditions  of 
native  agriculture  and  to  prevent  any  encroachment  on 
native  rights.  These  rights  are,  moreover,  under  the  spe¬ 
cial  care  of  the  Judges  throughout  the  Colony. 

White  Settlers  and  PIanters===Land  Concessions 

The  number  of  white  settlers  on  farms  and  plantations 
is  still  very  small.  There  are  a  few  Portuguese,  Italians, 
French  and  British  planters,  a  small  number  of  planta¬ 
tions  belonging  to  companies  and  also  some  Belgian  farms 
and  private  plantations. 

Land  can  be  had  cheap  and  easily,  up  to  1,250  acres,  by 
applying  to  the  Governor  General.  Larger  tracts  have  to 
be  granted  by  the  Colonial  Minister  in  Brussels.  The 
country  is  covered  with  heavy  timber,  and  the  clearing 
must  be  done  very  carefully,  especially  when  Para  rubber 
is  to  be  planted. 

The  Belgian  Government  is  anxious  to  promote  colonial 
enterprise  among,  the  farmers  in  Belgium  and  continually 
studies  schemes  to  help  them  to  start  farming  and  plan¬ 
tation  work  in  the  Colony.  American  planters  or  planting 
concerns  would  be  welcome. 

Experimental  Settlement  of  Belgian  Small  Farmers 

in  Katanga 

A  private  Settlement  Company  received  large  grants 
from  the  Government  in  1909  to  equip  a  number  of  small 
farms  for  Belgian  settlers  in  Katanga.  The  work  was 
very  difficult  on  account  of  the  lack  of  transportation  and 
of  the  presence  of  the  tsetse  fly,  which  killed  the  cattle 
and  horses. 

The  country  surrounding  the  copper  mines  is  a  poor  and 
dreary  forest  belt.  Native  labor  is  scarce  and  practically 
no  kind  of  farming  was  known  before  the  settlement  was 
started.  The  country  was  periodically  devastated  by  hun¬ 
ger  and  disease,  and  very  few  natives  cared  to  live  there 
at  all,  except  during  a  few  months  in  the  year,  when  they 
gathered  some  copper  that  was  sold  to  the  other  native 
peoples  of  Central  Africa. 

The  Agricultural  Department  took  the  work  in  hand  in 
1911,  and  received  special  grants  for  that  purpose.  A 
large  amount  of  every  kind  of  agricultural  seed  and  plant, 
implements,  portable  buildings,  furniture,  sheds,  steam 
plowing-engines  and  stump-pullers  was  acquired  in  South 
Africa.  Hundreds  of  native  laborers  were  put  at  work 
on  the  clearing  and  draining  of  the  first  small  farms. 
Large  nurseries  for  imported  forest  trees,  flowers  and 
shrubs  were  started  near  Elizabethville,  where  a  fully 
equipped  meteorological  station  was  erected. 

The  first  Belgian  settlers  were  brought  over  at  Govern¬ 
ment  expense  in  1911  and  1912.  Some  of  them  went  home 


24 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


after  a  few  months  or  a  year;  the  others  learned  to  stand 
the  real  difficulties  of  farming  in  the  copper  district.  Very 
interesting  results  have  been  obtained  by  six  years  of 
patient  research  work  in  the  Government  experimental 
farm,  and  the  farmers  are  now  gradually  improving  their 
situation. 

The  style  of  farming  applied  in  this  part  of  the  Congo 
is  very  similar  to  that  which  is  followed  in  Belgium,  and 
is,  in  fact,  intensive  farming,  large  quantities  of  artificial 
manure  being  used  every  year.  This  kind  of  agriculture 
is  special  to  the  Katanga  district. 

In  the  other  districts  of  the  Congo,  where  the  climate  is 
really  tropical,  agriculture  is  done  on  the  usual  system  of 
tropical  countries.  Plantations  are  mostly  Para  and 
Ceara  rubber,  cacao,  coffee,  rice,  oil-palms  and  other  trop¬ 
ical  crops. 

Government  Experimental  Plantations 

The  Government  has  about  10,000  acres  of  experimental 
plantations,  mostly  Para  rubber  and  cacao,  and  some  cof¬ 
fee.  The  aim  of  these  State  farms  is  to  show  what  bene¬ 
fits  can  be  derived  from  tropical  plantations  in  Central 
Africa.  The  Agricultural  Department  officials  use  these 
plantations  for  many  experiments  on  the  methods  of  grow¬ 
ing  the  crops  and  of  fighting  against  the  insects  and  plant 
diseases. 


Coffee  Plantations 

A  fine  coffee  plantation,  with  about  290  acres  of  coffee 
trees,  representing  about  fifteen  different  species  and  vari¬ 
eties,  is  located  near  Stanleyville.  Some  of  these  species 
and  varieties  have  to  be  grown  under  shade,  while  some 
others  do  not  require  any  shade  at  all.  The  celebrated 
Robusto  Coffee,  now  planted  all  over  the  tropical  world, 
is  indigenous  in  Central  Congo,  and  the  first  seed  of  this 
coffee  was  collected  near  Stanleyville.  Some  coffee  is 
grown  also  on  several  other  Government  farms  and  pri¬ 
vate  properties. 

Rubber  Plantations 

Several  rubber  plantations  are  run  by  the  Agricultural 
Department  and  were  principally  planted  with  Para  or 
Hevea  rubber  trees.  The  trees  have  made  rapid  growth. 
Seven-year-old  trees  are  frequently  more  than  3  feet  in 
circumference.  Root  diseases  have  given  some  trouble  in 
young  plantations,  but  on  the  whole  the  growth  of  the 
trees  is  perfect.  Tapping  experiments  were  started  in 
1918,  and  have  given  a  good  flow  of  latex  and  rubber  of 
excellent  quality.  There  are  a  number  of  privately  owned 
Para  rubber  plantations  in  the  Colony,  some  of  them  being 
of  tapping  age. 


25 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


Cacao  Plantations 

Private  companies  have  planted  some  thousands  of  acres 
of  cacao  in  the  Congo,  and  the  Government  maintains  one 
or  two  experimental  stations. 

One  of  the  largest  is  near  Stanleyville,  at  Barumbu, 
where  about  1,000  acres  are  planted  of  a  total  extent  of 
more  than  3,000  acres.  Several  species  of  cocoa  are 
planted  and  grown  under  different  methods.  The  great 
influence  of  shade  is  remarkable.  Cocoa  has  now  been 
planted  quite  successfully  between  Funtumia  rubber  trees. 
The  Barumbu  cocoa  sells  in  London  at  the  same  price  as 
the  San  Thome  and  Gold  Coast  produce. 

Oil  Palm  Forests  and  Plantations 

The  principal  produce  of  the  Congo  soil  is  the  fruit  of 
the  African  oil-palm.  When  boiled  and  pressed,  these 
fruits  yield  a  very  valuable  commercial  product,  known 
under  the  name  of  palm-oil,  that  is  used  for  soap,  mar¬ 
garine  and  glycerine.  The  seed  contained  in  these  fruits 
has  a  kernel  about  the  size  of  a  peanut,  very  rich  in  oil, 
and  this  is  exported  in  very  large  quantities  under  the 
name  of  palm-kernels.  The  kernel-oil  is  largely  used  for 
the  manufacture  of  margarine. 

Several  hunderd  thousand  tons  of  these  products — palm- 
oil  and  palm-kernels — were  shipped  from  the  West  Coast 
of  Africa  every  year,  and  went  to  Germany,  where  they 
were  manufactured.  This  very  important  trade  has  now 
been  taken  over  by  Great  Britain,  and  large  kernel-crush¬ 
ing  plants  have  been  erected  in  England. 

Only  small  quantities  of  palm-oil  and  palm-kernels  have 
been  sent  to  the  United  States  this  year,  but  larger  ship¬ 
ments  are  expected.  The  Belgian  Congo  could  produce 
several  hundred  thousand  tons  of  these  products,  and  also 
large  quantities  of  many  different  oil  seeds,  such  as  castor- 
oil,  peanuts,  sesamum,  etc. 

An  important  English  concern  acquired  from  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  in  1911  a  concession  of  750,000  acres  of  palm  for¬ 
ests  and  erected  up-to-date  oil  mills.  A  number  of  smaller 
concessions  have  been  granted  since  the  war.  The  latest 
development  in  this  matter  is  the  planting  of  oil-palms. 
Large  plantations  have  been  begun  and  many  more  are 
projected,  as  plantations  can  be  worked  much  more  eco¬ 
nomically  than  natural  palm  forests. 

The  Botanical  Gardens  at  Eala 

The  Botanical  Gardens  at  Eala  are  located  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Ruki  River,  near  Coquilhatville,  the  head  town 
of  the  Equatorial  Province.  The  gardens,  covering  about 
700  acres,  were  started  in  1895  exactly  under  the  equator. 
The  rainfall  averages  80  inches,  with  less  rain  about  Jan¬ 
uary  and  August.  Large  numbers  of  economic  and  orna¬ 
mental  plants  are  raised  and  distributed  free  to  the  Gov- 


26 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


ernment  Stations  and  to  the  missionaries.  Cocoa  planting 
was  introduced  in  1916  to  cover  a  part  of  the  expenses. 
There  are  laboratories  for  the  study  of  plant  diseases  and 
noxious  insects,  and  rooms  are  provided  for  foreign  scien¬ 
tists  wishing  to  investigate  the  flora  of  Central  Africa. 

Lumber  Supply  Enormous 

The  Central  Congo  is  one  huge  tropical  forest,  covering 
some  500,000  square  miles.  Another  200,000  square  miles 
of  dry  forest  cover  the  South  and  Katanga.  The  forest 
wealth  of  the  Belgian  Congo  is  consequently  enormous. 
The  high  cost  of  transport  has  hitherto  prevented  any 
important  lumbering  enterprise. 

Perfectly  aware  of  this  difficulty,  which  applies  also  to 
the  export  of  low-priced  agricultural  produce,  the  Agri¬ 
cultural  Department  is  now  striving  to  obtain  a  complete 
transformation  of  the  methods  of  transport  on  the  Congo 
River  and  its  tributaries.  Transport  of  lumber  in  barges, 
as  it  is  done  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  could  be 
done  at  very  low  rates. 

Coupled  with  the  improvement  of  the  Lower  Congo  Rail¬ 
way  and  the  equipment,  on  modern  lines,  of  two  trans¬ 
shipping  ports,  on  the  Stanley  Pool  and  at  Matadi,  this 
reform  will  enable  the  trader  to  bring  the  Central  African 
crops  and  lumber  and  also  mining  produce  to  the  sea  coast 
at  very  low  rates  of  freight,  that  could  not  be  obtained  by 
rail  transport. 

D 

GREAT  MINERAL  WEALTH 

The  Congo  was  formerly  held  to  be  an  exclusively  agri¬ 
cultural  country,  and  to  contain  only  a  limited  extent  of 
mineral  deposits. 

More  careful  prospecting  has  shown  that  this  idea  is 
utterly  false,  and  that  the  Belgian  Congo  is,  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  a  very  rich  mining  country.  In  fact,  the  districts 
along  the  eastern  border,  from  Lake  Albert,  in  the  north, 
to  the  extreme  south  of  Katanga,  are  full  of  valuable  min¬ 
eral  deposits. 

Gold,  diamonds,  copper,  tin  and  iron  are  found  in  many 
places,  sometimes  in  enormous  quantities.  Coal  has  been 
discovered  on  Lake  Tanganyka.  Oil  and  oil-shale  have 
been  located  in  several  districts. 

The  existence  of  large  copper  ore  deposits  in  the  very 
center  of  Africa  has  been  known  for  centuries  by  the 
natives.  The  powerful  native  kings  of  Uganda,  Lunda  and 
other  Central  African  countries  used  to  send  every  year 
to  the  copper  country  large  caravans  of  slaves,  carrying 
native  goods.  These  were  bartered  for  copper  ingots, 
manufactured  in  the  mines  of  the  wild  and  desert  country 
that  is  known  now  as  Katanga.  Local  craftsmen  or  fundis, 


27 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


slaves  to  the  King  of  Lunda  and  to  his  Kazembes  or  gov¬ 
ernors,  extracted  the  ore  and  melted  the  copper  in  small 
furnaces,  about  4  feet  high,  made  of  clay,  thousands 
of  which  are  still  found  in  the  copper  districts.  The  work¬ 
ings  were  extensive,  and  some  open-air  quarries  were 
about  100  feet  deep ;  remains  of  a  large  underground  gal¬ 
lery  have  been  discovered. 

The  Zambesi-Congo  watershed  had  been  designated  as 
frontier  to  the  Congo  State:  four  Belgian  expeditions 
were  sent  in  1891  to  take  possession  of  the  Katanga 
and  prospect  its  mineral  resources.  They  lost  a  great 
number  of  men,  both  whites  and  natives,  through  hunger, 
smallpox  and  attacks  by  the  local  tribesmen.  The  Arab 
war  broke  out,  and  in  1900  the  State  finally  put  a  stop  to 
inter-tribal  wars,  cannibalism  and  raids  by  Arab  slave- 
drivers. 

As  soon  as  a  civilized  form  of  police  and  administration 
was  established,  a  closer  study  of  the  copper  deposits  was 
done  with  the  aid  of  English  prospectors.  There  was  no 
difficulty  in  locating  the  deposits,  as  they  are  bare  hills, 
rising  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  forest  of  hardwood  trees 
and  strewn  with  greenish  copper  stones.  The  location  and 
name  of  each  one  of  these  hills  were  well  known  to  the 
natives. 

This  prospecting  has  shown  that  the  copper  ore  deposits 
of  Katanga  are  not  only  of  enormous  extent  and  tonnage, 
but  also  that  the  ore  is  much  richer  than  many  of  the  other 
copper  deposits  in  the  world.  A  large  percentage  of  the 
ore  volume  contains  14  to  17  per  cent,  of  copper,  and  lower 
grades  still  show  a  content  of  5  to  7  per  cent. 

There  are  112  mines  or  copper  ore  hills,  some  of  them 
several  miles  in  length.  The  tonnage  of  copper  ore  above 
the  average  level  of  the  soil  is  figured  to  be  about  6,000,000 
tons,  of  which  one-fifth  averages  15  per  cent,  and  four- 
fifths  7  per  cent.  The  ore  deposits  continue  underground 
to  an  unknown  depth.  Borings  have  been  made  in  the 
ore  to  a  depth  of  more  than  300  feet. 

Gold  and  platinum  and  several  other  valuable  minerals 
were  discovered,  and  gold  was  worked  for  a  few  years 
near  Ruwe,  long  before  the  South  African  Railway  had 
reached  Katanga  and  brought  modern  mining  machinery. 

The  prospectors  located,  outside  of  copper  and  gold, 
large  deposits  of  extremely  rich  hematite  iron  stone.  But 
one  of  the  most  valuable  finds  was  a  very  large  belt  of  tin 
ore,  extending  in  a  northeasterly  direction  from  the  west¬ 
ern  end  of  the  copper  belt  to  the  central  part  of  Katanga, 
towards  Lake  Tanganyka. 

A  powerful  Anglo-Belgian  company,  the  Union  Miniere, 
of  which  Belgian  interests  now  hold  about  two-thirds  of 
the  shares,  was  created  to  work  the  copper  mines  and  a 
large  tract  of  the  tin  deposits.  Subsequently  several  Bel¬ 
gian  concerns  obtained  prospecting  and  mining  concessions 


28 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


in  other  parts  of  Katanga,  and  many  of  their  prospectors, 
together  with  private  prospectors,  were  at  work  in  Katanga 
for  several  years  before  the  war. 

The  Union  Miniere  started  work  in  the  mine  known  as 
the  “Etoile  du  Congo”  (Congo  Star),  and  erected  a  water 
jacket  smelter  on  the  Lubumbashi  River.  The  ore  is  oxy- 
dized  copper  and  is  smelted  with  lime  and  iron  ore.  A 
large  mine  has  been  opened  at  Kambove,  and  some  pre¬ 
liminary  workings  have  been  done  in  one  or  two  mines 
between  Kambove  and  the  “Star.”  Subsequent  to  the 
arrival  of  the  railroad,  the  equipment  of  the  “Union 
Miniere”  was  gradually  improved ;  there  are  now  six  large 
water  jacket  furnaces  at  the  Lubumbashi  and  the  output 
of  smelted  copper  in  1918  is  about  40,000  tons.  The  fur¬ 
naces  were  constructed  at  Allentown,  Pa.,  and  are  the  larg¬ 
est  black  copper  blast  furnaces  ever  built.  Only  the  richest 
ore,  about  16  per  cent,  bearing,  is  being  smelted  now,  being 
first  enriched,  by  washing,  up  to  more  than  20  per  cent. 
The  large  quantities  of  poorer  ore  (5  to  8  per  cent.)  will 
be  treated  in  an  electrolytic  plant  that  is  now  being  built 
near  the  Lualaba  River;  the  power  derived  from  the 
Lualaba  waterfalls  at  Nzilo  will  give  about  200,000  horse¬ 
power. 

Realizing  that  the  copper  mining  district  would  attract 
a  large  population  and  an  important  general  trade,  the 
Belgian  Government,  soon  after  the  Congo  was  taken  over 
as  a  Belgian  Colony,  participated  actively  in  the  opening  up 
of  this  country,  and  spent  about  $2,000,000  to  build  on  the 
Lubumbashi  River,  one  mile  distant  from  the  copper  smelt¬ 
ers,  a  modern  and  well  equipped  town,  called  Elizabethville. 
At  the  same  time  the  Government  financially  assisted  the 
Katanga  Railway  Company  and  made  great  efforts  to  in¬ 
troduce  agriculture. 

Elizabethville,  the  capital  of  Katanga,  is  now  a  very 
pretty  and  healthy  town,  mostly  built  of  brick,  with  miles 
of  broad  streets  bordered  with  tidy  bungalows  and  gar¬ 
dens,  a  public  park,  churches,  schools  for  white  and  native 
boys  and  girls,  and  numerous  Belgian  and  South  African 
stores.  A  number  of  truck  farms  have  been  established 
around  the  town  and  appear  to  do  well  notwithstanding 
the  former  infertility  of  the  soil.  Connection  with  Johan¬ 
nesburg,  Beira  and  Capetown  is  established  twice  a  week 
by  express  trains,  reaching  Capetown  in  five  days.  The 
white  population  is  about  1,200,  with  more  than  a  hundred 
white  women  and  numerous  children.  The  native  popula¬ 
tion  is  about  5,000. 

The  Katanga  Tin  Belt 

Important  deposits  of  tin  ore,  mostly  cassiterite,  are  lo¬ 
cated  near  the  Nzilo  waterfalls,  and  steps  are  taken  now 
to  open  the  readily  accessible  deposit  of  Busanga.  The 
tin  deposits  near  Bukama  and  Kiambi  are  being  prepared 
by  preliminary  workings.  The  opening  of  the  railway  to 


29 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


Bukama  on  May  22,  1918,  enables  the  mining  concerns  to 
introduce  the  necessary  machinery. 

No  estimate  can  be  given  as  yet  of  the  tonnage  of  tin 
ore  available  in  Katanga,  but  it  is  known  to  be  very  large. 
Some  hundreds  of  tons  of  tin  ingots  have  been  produced 
with  still  inadequate  machinery,  and  give  a  fair  sample 
of  the  future  output. 

Future  Development  of  the  Katanga  Mines 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Katanga  copper  and  tin  mines 
will  soon  rank  among  the  most  important  producers  of  the 
world.  The  output  of  copper  is  likely  some  day  to  exceed 
100,000  tons ;  this  conservative  estimate  is  based  on  the 
fact  that  two  mines,  working  only  their  richest  ore,  are 
turning  out  this  year  40,000  tons  of  copper,  whereas  there 
are  more  than  a  hundred  still  unworked  deposits  around 
Kambove  and  Elizabethville. 

The  complete  development  of  the  copper  mines  will  re¬ 
quire  extensive  use  of  the  most  up-to-date  machinery  and 
methods  of  mechanical  extraction,  as  the  native  popula¬ 
tion  is  scanty  and  does  not  stand  hard  work  in  the  mines. 
The  native  laborers  are  paid  high  wages  and  large  num¬ 
bers  of  them  come  to  Katanga  from  the  surrounding  Eng¬ 
lish  colonies  of  Rhodesia  and  Nyassa  and  from  the  Congo ; 
they  are  well  cared  for,  well  fed  and  well  paid.  But  the 
value  of  modern  machinery  is  illustrated  by  the  fact 
that  each  of  the  recently  introduced  American  steam 
shovels,  whose  use  was  started  by  the  American  general 
manager  of  the  mines,  Mr.  Horner,  does  the  work  of  1,000 
native  workmen.  The  total  number  of  natives  at  present 
employed  on  the  copper  mines  varies  from  5,000  to  7,000. 

A  very  important  question  is  the  transportation  of  cop¬ 
per  and  tin  towards  the  east  or  west  coast.  Several  new 
railway  lines  have  been  projected.  (See  page  19.)  It 
is  believed  that  improvement  of  transportation  facilities  on 
the  Congo  River  could  supply  the  cheapest  freight  rates 
for  the  products  of  the  Katanga  mines.  This  question  is 
now  being  considered  by  the  Belgian  Government. 

The  copper  is  now  sent  to  Europe  via  Capetown  or  via 
Beira. 

The  Diamond  Mines  in  the  Congo 

Diamond  bearing  pipes  of  blue  ground,  similar  to  the 
blue  ground  of  Kimberley  (South  Africa),  have  been  dis¬ 
covered  on  the  high  tablelands  of  the  Kundelungu  Moun¬ 
tains,  150  miles  N.N.E.  of  Elizabethville.  They  are  near 
the  new  automobile  road  running  from  Elizabethville  to 
Kasenga,  a  Government  post  on  the  Luapula  River,  a  few 
miles  south  of  Lake  Moero.  Some  prospecting  has  been 
done  and  fair  quality  diamonds  were  obtained,  but  the 
research  work  has  been  interrupted  by  the  war. 

Extensive  tracts  of  diamond  bearing  gravels  are  now 
being  worked  by  a  Belgo-American  company  in  the  south- 


30 


Special  Foreign  Trade  Bulletin 


era  part  of  the  Kasai  district,  around  the  Tchikapa  River. 
The  output  was  as  follows : 


1913  .  15,000  carats  value  $  75,000 

1914  .  39,000  carats  value  195,000 

1915  .  54,000  carats  value  270,000 

1916  .  80,000  carats  value  400,000 

1917  . 185,000  carats  value  1,288,500 


Diamonds  of  fair  quality  and  size  have  been  picked  up 
lately  in  some  gold  mines  of  the  northeast.  Topaz  occurs 
also  with  the  gold. 

The  Goldfields  of  the  Northeastern  Congo 

Gold  was  discovered  accidentally  some  years  ago  in  the 
gravel  of  small  rivers  west  of  Lake  Albert,  and  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  started  placer  gold  mining  around  the  small  towns 
of  Kilo  and  Moto.  Prospecting  has  been  active,  too,  in 
the  lands  conceded  to  Belgian  and  Belgo-American  com¬ 
panies.  Gold-bearing  quartz  rock  has  been  located  near 
Kilo  and  Moto. 

Four  mines  are  being  worked  now,  two  by  Government 
and  two  by  a  private  company.  The  output  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  mines  is  about  three  tons  yearly,  valued  at  $2,000,- 
000.  This  is  obtained  by  the  most  crude  methods  of 
sluicing;  introduction  of  modern  systems  and  machinery 
will  largely  increase  the  output  and  diminish  the  loss  of 
fine  gold.  The  equipment  of  the  Government  mines  has 
been  impeded  by  the  war  and  by  lack  of  transportation. 
However,  a  motor  road  has  been  built  recently  by  Govern¬ 
ment  between  Kisseigni  on  Lake  Albert  and  Kilo  (60 
miles)  ;  it  is  now  being  extended  to  the  mining  center  of 
Moto. 

The  gold  district,  favored  with  fertile  soil  and  a  delight¬ 
ful  climate,  is  pronounced  by  many  colonials  as  being  the 
finest  piece  of  land  in  Africa. 

Enthusiastic  descriptions  of  the  North-Eastern  Congo 
and  its  gold  field  have  appeared  in  the  South-African 
Press.  The  most  interesting  one  is  written  by  Sir  Alfred 
Sharpe,  formerly  Governor  of  Nyassaland,  who  recently 
made  three  extensive  trips  through  the  Kilo  and  Uelle 
district. 

The  Belgian  Government  has  not  been  able,  during  the 
war,  to  determine  exactly  under  what  conditions  private 
enterprise  will  be  admitted  in  the  Eastern  Congo  gold 
fields.  The  Government  is  anxious  to  avoid  the  rush  of 
prospectors  of  very  mixed  quality,  who  have  hitherto  been 
common  in  new  gold  areas,  and  would  be  specially  unde¬ 
sirable  in  a  wild  and  still  undeveloped  country  such  as  the 
center  of  Africa. 

Coal  and  Oil  in  the  Belgian  Congo 

The  fuel  required  for  the  copper  smelters  of  Katanga 
is  imported  from  Wankie,  an  important  coaling  center  near 
the  Victoria  Falls  (Rhodesia). 


31 


National  Association  of  Manufacturers 


Coal  deposits  of  medium  quality  and  large  extent  have 
been  prospected  near  Albertville,  on  Lake  Tanganyka.  In¬ 
dications  of  coal  have  been  found  near  Bukama.  On  the 
whole,  although  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  valuable 
coal  fields  will  be  found  in  the  Congo,  the  indications  given 
by  superficial  prospecting  are  still  unimportant.  System¬ 
atic  boring  on  a  large  scale  would  prove  very  valuable  for 
coal  and  every  kind  of  minerals. 

Oil-shale  has  been  found  on  the  Congo  River  near  Pon- 
thierville,  and  some  prospecting  work  was  in  progress 
when  the  war  started.  Good  indications  of  oil  are  recorded 
in  other  places,  and  some  of  them  appear  to  be  really  in¬ 
teresting.  The  discovery  of  oil  in  Central  Africa  would 
have  a  great  influence  on  the  development  of  transporta¬ 
tion,  as  it  would  supply  fuel  for  steamers,  railways  and 
motor  transport.  In  fact,  the  discovery  of  important  oil 
fields  would  mean  a  complete  and  rapid  transformation 
of  economic  conditions  in  the  whole  of  tropical  Africa. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  importation  of  crude  oil  in  the 
Congo,  a  4-inch  pipe  line  has  been  laid  between  Matadi  and 
Leopoldville  (260  miles),  with  eight  intermediate  pump¬ 
ing  stations  and  a  capacity  of  50,000  tons  annually.  The 
railway  engines  and  several  steamers  are  burning  oil. 

Iron  Ore  Deposits  in  the  Congo 

The  Congo  natives  have  been  working  iron  ore  deposits 
for  many  centuries,  and  their  fundis  (skilled  workmen) 
turned  out  extremely  beautiful  weapons, .  engraved  and 
ornamented  with  inlaid  copper  and  brass.  Highly  artis¬ 
tically  worked  hatchets,  spears,  assagais,  swords,  daggers, 
beheading  and  throwing  knives  were  common  all  over  the 
Congo,  and  specimens  are  installed  in  the  museum  of 
Europe,  especially  in  the  fine  Congo  Museum  at  Tervueren 
(Brussels).  Some  magnificent  specimens  of  ivory  carv¬ 
ings  from  the  Congo  are  to  be  seen  in  the  Natural  History 
Museum,  New  York  City.  Large  quantities  of  hoes,  axes, 
wire  and  other  iron  implements  are  still  being  manufac¬ 
tured  by  the  natives.  Some  of  these  native  instruments, 
such  as  tattooing  knives,  show  the  greatest  taste  and  skill 
in  very  delicate  and  artistic  work. 

Rich  iron  ore,  containing  up  to  60  per  cent,  of  iron,  is 
found  in  many  parts  of  the  Congo,  and  will  be  worked 
some  day,  when  cheap  transportation  or  industrial  enter¬ 
prises  in  Africa  permit  of  its  economic  utilization. 


